Category: Business

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir) The members of the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI), like previous years, once again reaffirmed their commitment to uplift the Pakistani society from all aspects and invested PKR 14.5 billion in different CSR and Sustainable projects during 2020-21, stated in a press statement issued here today for sharing the highlights of OICCI Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report 2020-21.

About 100 of the leading foreign investors and members of OICCI continued to stand by the government to fight the pandemic of COVID-19 besides carrying out their several CSR initiatives which benefit the marginalized communities across the country. The CSR activities of OICCI members do not only include monetary contributions but the intellect and time of their employees as well which develop sustainable and long-term projects across Pakistan with the underlying commitment to uplift the underprivileged strata of the society through different means.

President OICCI, Ghias Khan, commended the unparallel commitment of OICCI members who are inspiring the corporate sector alike to invest in the society besides introducing latest technology and skills transfer for the local population.

“The OICCI members keep on enhancing the CSR fabric through a proactive engagement between business and all stakeholders in the society which results in model CSR initiatives and Sustainability practices, largely in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) to meet the growing needs of the society”, Ghias added.

Vice President OICCI, Amir Paracha, highlighted that the annual CSR Report 2020-21 reflects the feedback from about half of OICCI membership who have shared their CSR activities. This year total CSR contribution was PKR 11 billion, which benefited about 34 million direct beneficiaries across the country. OICCI members and their colleagues spent around 1.4 million man-hours and partnered with 160 social and development sector organizations throughout Pakistan. The geographic distribution of the CSR activities has been 31% in Sindh, 27% in Punjab, 15% in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 13% in Baluchistan, 8% in Gilgit-Baltistan, and 6% in Azad Kashmir.

The COVID-19 continues to be a challenge for businesses throughout the world. Our members showed exceptional leadership and resilience in the fight against COVID-19. During the year, 90% of our participant-members contributed about PKR 3.5 billion to various causes to fight the pandemic.

Protecting Environment is one of the areas which is getting growing attention recently. 69% of our participant-members carried out environment related pursuits and spent about PKR 1.5 billion for the purpose of protecting environment.

With respect to specific UN SDGs, 79% of the OICCI members focused on health and well-being, and actively supported health and nutrition related initiatives through donations to reputable hospitals, medical care camps and health awareness campaigns. Moreover, 73% of members contributed to Quality Education by funding primary and secondary school facilities, scholarships, and various vocational training programs for skills development. Gender Equality is also one of the focus areas where more than half of our participant-members supported the women empowerment activities and actively supported the “OICCI Women” initiative in place since 2017.

OICCI is the collective body of top 200 foreign investors in Pakistan, belonging to 35 countries, who are also the largest contributor to the economy of Pakistan besides being the largest foreign investors.

Lahore (Nut Desk)

Xiaomi believes in making tech accessible for everyone, with their motto being ‘Innovation for everyone’ and they’ve been true to what they claim! Bringing tech marvels in the local market at unmatchable rates with launch dates side by side the global launch. Not just bringing innovation but being vigilant and time sensitive about it.

Like every year, this year too Xiaomi brings Xiaomi Fan Festival – to celebrate their 11th anniversary in the local Pakistani market and uplift/give back to the fans which have been loyal through this journey. Exclusive bundle deals and some crazy discounts which are sure to make one want to shop something! Offering discounts upto 40% and amazing bundle deals that Mi fans can exclusively avail during the festival.

Staying true to their vision of making tech accessible for everyone at affordable prices, Xiaomi is starting an exclusive loyalty program which allows you to avail multiple rewards and numerous discounts with the Mi Fan card. Sign up for the fan card now to avail discounts and become a Mi fan!

This and much more discount and bundle deals are up for grabs, check out the website (https://bit.ly/ffx_mi) and shop some tech marvels for yourself and loved ones.

 

Lahore (Nut Desk) Pakistani telecom operator, Ufone 4G in line with its commitment to enhancing the user experience of its valued consumers has introduced a unique post-paid product ‘Ufone Post Pay Prime’.

Owing to the growing demand for uninterrupted and seamless communication especially in terms of calls and data, including video streaming, calling, conferencing, messaging, socializing, and glitch-free gaming with the fastest 4G network, Ufone 4G through its latest Post Pay Prime package will provide a single solution with ease and convenience.

The newest Post Pay Prime packages also offer flexibility and convenience giving customers the liberty to choose from three prime packages. Prime 750 available at PKR 750 is an affordable price package for starters offering 10 GB of data, 7500 on-net & PTCL minutes, 400 off-net minutes, and 2000 SMS. The mid-range Prime 1200 package, as the name suggests available at PKR 1200, offers more value for money that includes 20 GB of data, 7500 on-net & PTCL minutes, 750 off-net minutes, and 7500 SMS whereas the premium Prime 2000 package that is available for PKR 2000 offers 40 GB of data, 7500 on-net & PTCL minutes, 1200 off-net minutes, and 7500 SMS. All charges mentioned are inclusive of tax.

With the launch of this latest product, Ufone 4G has yet again proved that it is at the forefront to provide customer centric products and services that are not only reliable, but also delivers a seamless experience. The company is dedicated to ensuring flexible and convenient solutions that provide consumers with packages that are exclusively designed to not only addresses their voice and data needs but deliver a matchless user experience round the clock.

Customers can subscribe the packages through Ufone Joint Shops, and franchises. Additional inquiries about the packages are available here: https://www.ufone.com/postpayprime/

Third-party consultants shared data center and storage industry trends Customers shared their digital transformation journey powered by all-flash storage.

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) The Huawei Middle East IT Day 2022, held under the theme of ‘Green Data, Super Power’, recently brought together Huawei experts, independent analysts and customers to discuss the role of modern data center and storage technology in helping businesses innovate faster. Digitalization is accelerating in the region, putting pressure on existing IT systems. This has led to a surge in demand for agile, scalable and cost-effective all-flash storage that can deliver on digital transformation needs better than traditional storage systems.

Addressing the summit, Steven Yi, President for Middle East & Africa, Huawei, said, “Countries in the Middle East & Africa are keen to adopt new technologies, as we have seen with the fast development of 5G in the region. We will continue to work with our customers and partners to lead the next wave of digital transformation and drive the national transformation visions.” Other keynote speakers at IT Day included Bill Raftery, VP of Storage Solutions, Huawei, whose speech titled, ‘Redefining All-Flash Data Center’ emphasized the importance of innovative technologies such as flash-based storage platforms and how they enable organizations to accelerate digital transformation. He also stressed the applicability of Huawei’s pioneered technology in different verticals such as tax/finance and Oil & Gas. The event also featured the release of a white paper titled “The Trend of Data-intensive HPC (High-Performance Computing)”.

The report captures insights into the rapidly evolving requirements placed on the HPC ecosystem by the growth in the adoption of data-intensive applications and workloads. Early adopters of all-flash storage have already experienced the transformative power of this technology. Sim S. Lim, Group Executive, Consumer Banking & Wealth Management, DBS Bank, took participants through the bank’s digitalization journey.

He noted, “At DBS, we are re-imagining and re-investing in the latest ICT solutions to digitally empower our customers and build an ecosystem of trust and collaboration.” Fahem Al Nuaimi, CEO of Ankabut, shared insights on building an Intelligent Full-Stack Data Center in the UAE. He said, “An intelligent full-stack data center enables us to offer digitalized education services, making the academic process more efficient while boosting collaboration.” The financial industry is among the most important markets for modern storage based on the need to digitalize the customer journey, stringent data handling requirements and the need for robust cybersecurity. A roundtable session titled “The Future of the Financial Sector – IT Driven Digital Transformation” focused on this sector and attracted IT leaders from some of the region’s leading banks.

Wilson Xavier, ICT Research Director, IDC META, was also one of the many distinguished speakers. He highlighted industry trends for storage and data center, noting, “The enterprise DataSphere share of global data volume will increase to 68% by 2025, and data management strategies can either make or break IT modernization.” Liu Gui, Vice President of Marketing and Solution Sales, Enterprise Business Group, Huawei Middle East, closed the day by launching the Huawei Flash Track Promotion program, which can deliver storage devices sooner and help customers deploy IT resources quickly and implement projects faster. All industries urgently need to prepare for the digital economy. But they also need costs and energy consumption to come down. Huawei’s all-flash data center solutions present a faster, greener, and more reliable solution for enterprises to better and more cost-effectively manage data.

They also significantly improve intelligent management as the flash disk life can be monitored and predicted. And, with enough flexibility, they provide optimal latency for workloads, leading to improved customer experience, shorter deployment times, and a much lower frequency of latency issues. Currently, Huawei has 12 R&D centers, over 4000 R&D personnel, and 3000 patents dedicated to storage, helping more than 15,000 customers in over 150 countries.

Huawei data storage ranks No. 3 worldwide and has achieved Gartner recognition for more than five years. Huawei’s all-flash storage solution OceanStor Dorado has also been chosen by the “Gartner Peer Insights” for “Best Customers’ Choice”.

For more information about Huawei storage, please visit: https://e.huawei.com/ae/products/storage and for more information about the event, please visit: https://e.huawei.com/ae/special_topic/event/2022q1/2203-ae-it-day

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir) METRO, the leading international wholesale company, hosted a study tour for the German language students of the Roots Millennium School and Academia Civitas at its Safari store. The tour was part of knowledge based learning for the students to gain the first-hand knowledge on the German businesses in Pakistan. METRO Pakistan being the biggest commercial business presented an excellent learning opportunity for the students, where they were given guided tour of the facility, various departments, and witnessed the day-to-day operations of the company.

Briefing the young minds, Mr. Imran Shamim, Senior Manager Corporate Affairs & External Communication said, “METRO Pakistan as the leading wholesale company strictly follow the German standards in quality assurance and ensure to provide best of the best products and services to our customers.”

The young students participated in a baking activity and a challenge. They were also briefed about professions in this industry by the HR Department of the company. Students showed immense interest and asked different questions. At the end of the tour students were served with freshly baked pizzas from METRO’S own café and were given gift hampers.

Get Ready to Witness the Fantastic OPPO F21 Pro – Launching with an Industry’s First Fiberglass Leather Design

 

Lahore (Nut Desk)

OPPO the global technology innovator is set to unleash its most anticipated smartphone, the OPPO F21 Pro on April 11th, 2022.  The new F21 Pro is about to unleash multiple “Pakistan’s first” technology that brings smartphone experience to new heights. This new addition is crafted with industry’s first integrated fiberglass leather design paired up with an eye-striking sunset orange hue to refresh the color philosophy. Its unique flat-edge design steals the show for its aesthetically pleasing appearance. 

The fantastic design of the new OPPO F21 Pro is a result of the company’s continuous efforts to optimize and lead the CMF (Color, Material and Finishes) technology. To reflect the self-expression of the youth, the upcoming OPPO F Series revolutionized the design language of OPPO F Series with a bold oversized camera setup, refined flat-edge design, vibrant Sunset Orange color and the flagship leatherette material. This season, OPPO has also adopted colors onto their palette and brought them out into technology in a strikingly bold and vibrant way.

To celebrate the design concept of the OPPO F21 Pro, OPPO has partnered with the talented young artists Noor-un-Nahar and Areeba Siddique, the representatives of the next generation art creators to explore the seasonal color palette, and a fusion of ideas. The idea of the art pieces was extracted from the wild imaginations of the talented children at the Agosh Orphanage by Al Khidmat-Foundation.

Building on the idea of “Fusion is Fantastic”, the children at Agosh learned how to fuse colors, textures, and styles into creating their own original art pieces, and express themselves freely.

Furthermore, the art pieces co-created by the artists and the children at the orphanage was further crafted into the creation of “The Fantastic Box”. OPPO sophisticatedly designed ‘The Fantastic Box’ to spread the word of harmony and love among the people by encouraging the efforts made by these young heroes that has been witnessed in the heart-warming artwork.  

In the spirit of the Ramadan, OPPO hopes to pass down the artistic freedom and share the joyous moments to more people. The company believes in the power of the next generation and wants the world to see how talented the youth can be. OPPO has always pushed avenues for its users to communicate with one another in a language of love, art and kindness.

Building on the legacy of the classic OPPO F series, the company continues to explore and innovate with new technologies and aesthetics. OPPO F21 Pro launch will reinforce the company’s dedication to art and technology.

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) Xiaomi Pakistan brought forth the Redmi Note 11 Pro under their flagship Redmi Note series. The device not only packs powerful camera upgrades, fast charging but also has an AMOLED display – making flagship-level smartphone performance more accessible than before. The AMOLED display guarantees seamless viewing on the device without compromising on colors.

The device supports 67W wired turbo charging, charges your phone to 100% in less than 45mins, so you’re not plugged in to the charger all the time and out enjoying more. Share and view more with lag-free transitions and overall smoother animations as the new Redmi Note 11 Pro has a 120hz refresh rate which means super enhanced on screen experience. The series overall comes packing a 5,000mAH battery which is beautifully inside this sleek device. All of this is packed in a body with a trendy and fresh design, plus, with the dual speakers located on the top and bottom of the device for an immersive listening experience. 

You would think that we’re done but let us tell you about the camera now! The phone has a 108MP main camera – delivering an outstanding photography experience with zero compromise to the quality. The front camera is 16MP that captures clear and natural selfies, even in dim light! 

In the words of famous Pakistani tech youtuber Video Wali Sarkar aka Bilal, the design of the device shows how it looks like a futuristic version of its predecessors. The battery and amazing hardware all packed in a sleek light design, which make this device one of the most amazing devices I’ve seen in a while. What stands out most is the placement of the speakers which make the sound experience way better.

Overall it is safe to say that Xiaomi Pakistan just might break the mid-tier phone market with this flagship drop – the Redmi Note 11 Pro, the real all rounder device.

 

 

Lahore (Nut Desk)

The Upcoming Entry in the realme 9 Series Brings Exciting Features to Make Tech Enthusiasts Go Wild

realme has an ever-expanding legacy of technological advancement, fighting for the popularization of 5G products around the world, as well as introducing technical innovation into its products to pass on value to the customers. The highly-anticipated, upcoming entrant to the realme 9 series, the realme 9 Pro+, is the perfect amalgamation of 5G popularization efforts and technological advancements. Recently, realme has really been making strides in the realm of global 5G popularization. In Q4 of 2021, realme became the top selling 5G brand in the world with 165% YoY growth and over 90% of realme’s R&D budget is invested into development of 5G technology and products. The realme 9 Pro+ is packed with a boatload of exciting features but a few stand out as being major tech leaps in the price segment. These include the Sony IMX766 sensor with OIS, MediaTek Dimensity 920 5G chipset, and the beautiful light-shift design on the back panel. Let’s go through these innovations one by one to see what they have to offer curious consumers.

The realme 9 Pro+ comes equipped with a fabulous three lens rear camera setup. The primary 50MP lens is supported by the power of the Sony IMX766 sensor. This sensor works in tandem with realme’s Prolight Imaging Technology in order to allow for greater light intake leading to brighter, more vibrant images being captured. This iteration of the sensor captures up to 63.8% more light than previous generations of Sony sensors. The rear camera setup also contains an 8MP super wide lens for wide shots and a 2MP macro lens for detailed, close-up photography. One of the most important new features of the camera setup is the introduction of OIS which regulates movement in the subject you are photographing so that there is less motion blur in the final outcome. It can help you capture moving objects with clarity using the realme 9 Pro+.  The incredible AI Noise Reduction Engine 3.0 utilizes advanced software algorithms such as smart image averaging and shape adaptive de-noising to intelligently reduce digital noise by 30%. This leads to the final image being less grainy.

Every smartphone needs a strong core to support its various functions. For the realme 9 Pro+, the MediaTek Dimensity 920 5G chipset provides the smartphone with the power needed to perform full throttle.  The 6nm transistor size of this chipset works together with the faster CPU and GPU in order to maximize system efficiency.  The powerful chipset also has support for realme’s Dynamic RAM Expansion technology that allows you to avail up to 5 GB of additional RAM for your day to day usage. This allows the smartphone to make more efficient usage of its storage space to deliver a smoother and faster experience for users. The processor also interacts with the smartphone’s camera brilliantly. Its powerful ISP lets you capture 35% more details than previous generations of processors could support. The MediaTek Dimensity chipset also has a plethora of exciting 5G related capabilities. It provides support for a dual 5G SIM setup, has the fastest 5G carrier aggregation, 5G high speed rail mode for gaming, as well as Super-Hotspot Power Saving to allow for users to share their 5G Wi-Fi with 33% more power saving than alternative platforms.

Last but not least, let’s touch on the upcoming realme 9 Pro+’s stylish new design concept. The sunrise blue variant of the realme 9 Pro+ has a little something extra in store for fans. This color variant features an exciting Light-Shift Design. When exposed to sunlight or other UV light the shiny blue rear panel transforms into a crimson red color. The color of the panel returns back to the original within a few minutes after being removed from the source of light. This beautiful effect is meant to mirror the natural progression of the colors of the sky during sunrise and sunset.

The latest entrant in the acclaimed realme number series brings a wealth of tech leaps to the Pakistani market. Being the first ever Pro+ model in the number series, the realme 9 Pro+ was built to exceed expectations. Apart from the tech leaps discussed above, the smartphone has many additional premium features that can appeal to a wide range of users such as the fashionistas, gamers, or even casual users. As the nation primes itself for the rollout of 5G networks, don’t let the future pass you by. Prepare yourself by picking up the 5G powerhouse, the realme 9 Pro+, when it drops in the local market. Keep your eyes peeled as the 5G popularizer is coming to a store near you very soon!

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir)  Philip Morris (Pakistan) Limited (“PMPKL”) partnered with SEED Ventures (Social Entrepreneurship and Equity Development) to carry out #MissionCleanerPakistan, an anti-littering project (“Project”) aimed at raising awareness across Pakistan regarding proper disposal, promoting behavioral change and supporting the required infrastructure for proper disposal.

Under this Project, PMPKL has carried out 20 anti-littering drives across Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar and Balakot within the last year with an aim to create a movement which instills proper waste disposal habits in our communities and to raise awareness about the impact littering has on our environment. More than 2400 volunteers comprising of women, men, and transgenders have been engaged during the drives and over 4000 KGs of trash have been collected. The recyclable portion of the waste was recycled in a sustainable manner through the PMPKL’s recycling partners while the non-recyclable portion of the waste was turned into an art piece which serves to represent the ecological disaster that is imminent if the public continue the current method of waste disposal.

Andleeb Uroos Ahmed, Head of Communications at PMPKL, while talking about the initiative said, “Just like around the world, the challenge of littering is not new to our country, nor are the efforts to combat it. The natural environment should remain unspoiled, beautiful, and litter-free. Through this Project, we at Philip Morris (Pakistan) Limited, are glad to add our voice in the fight against littering and for sustainability.”

Shaista Ayesha, Vice president EYDS and CEO of Seed Ventures sharing her thoughts about the project said, “The occurrence of littering varies across the world, but, in general, it is linked to behavioral attitudes and availability of a waste disposal infrastructure. We hope that through this partnership we are able to change the habit of littering in our communities.”

Philip Morris (Pakistan) Limited aims to take this initiative further and continue to raise awareness through art pieces made from non-recyclable trash across the major cities of Pakistan.

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir)  The fastest-growing Chinese smartphone brand, TECNO, recently started its #ShowYourSpark TikTok campaign, which has received over Eight Million (8M) views on TikTok alone. Many prominent TikTokers including Haris Ali and Hira khan were a part of this campaign, with thousands of others joining the trend with their own fun videos.

The trend was initiated for TECNO’s latest Spark 8C smartphone. The phone comes in two variants, 4+128GB (PKR 23,999) and 3+64GB (PKR 19,499).  Spark 8C is equipped with a 13MP Rear AI dual camera, 8MP Front Camera, 6.56” HD+ Dot Notch Display, 90Hz refresh rate, and 5000mAh Battery. However, the Memory fusion technology makes Spark 8C stand out from its competitors.

The main highlight of the phone is its Expandable Memory. With the Memory Fusion Technology, the Spark 8C RAM can be increased by 3GB. Hence, the 4+128GB variant can be expanded to 7+128GB and the 3+64GB variant can be expanded to 6+64GB. Spark 8C comes in four stylish colors – Magnetic Black, Turquoise Cyan, Iris Purple, and Diamond Grey.

And that’s not all, Spark 8C introduces new innovative features such as Customized Beauty, Rear Camera decoration, and Fingerprint sensor design. SOPLAY – a special audio recording feature and some other chic features have also been added to this new device. These features are an amazing addition for youngsters to help them produce unique music videos.

Kelvin Zeng, CEO of TECNO Mobile Pakistan, shared his views

“We at TECNO aim to bring innovation not only in technology but the way this technology can be used. Our recent #ShowYourSpark TikTok campaign went viral in just a few hours and by now it has over Eight Million Views. This is the amazing response from our fans and customers that keeps us going and makes us work harder to bring the best for them.”

As the campaign gained success in such a short time, one could find hundreds of TikTok users enjoy dancing to the catchy tune. Famous TikTokers being a part of this campaign added to its popularity and helped it reach thousands of others in no time. The best videos were shared and a few lucky winners will get a chance to Win a new Spark 8C.